There You Go Again Making Me Love You
by Ms.BruceBanner
Summary: She believed that she had to leave to make things right. He wanted her stay so they could work things out. Now a thousand miles apart can real love conquer over a nearly failed mission and lovers of the past. Lizzie Olsen is back and she isn't ready to face the gentle giant or the scientist. Will there love last or with this be the end? Squeal to Love Is A Burning Thing
1. Chapter 1

Dearest Readers,

I knew how mad some of you were about the ending of Love Is A Burning Thing *cough**ladymoonscar**cough**cough*. So as originally planned here is the epic conclusion to my trilogy! :) Thank you to my reviewers: Miko Hayashi, Fleeting Dawn, and the wonderful ladymoonscar.

All my love,

Emma

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**(BRUCE POV)**

"Are you kidding me?" I sighed again looking at the folded piece of paper in my hands. She not only had left, but she had taken my favorite button up shirt with her. I sighed looking at her messy cursive scrawl.

Bruce,

I'm so sorry for everything I did. I know that I should have told you last night what my plans were but I didn't think you would understand. I love you more than words can express but for right now I need to keep my distance. I've have hurt everyone that we care about and that is NOT okay. I promise to come back as soon as I feel that I have experienced the pain that I have caused everyone else. Please let me go for now.

All my love forever,

Lizzie

I grumbled under my breath running my hand over my face and through my hair. A sudden knock came at my door, which almost made the Hulk jump out in anger at what we had just read in her note. I walked to the door swinging it open to reveal a slightly pissed off Natasha.

"Have you seen this?" she demanded throwing another note in my face. It was almost identical to mine but instead of a short expiation of why she was going it was less than thirty five words.

Guys,

I'm so sorry for everything I did. Please do not try to find me. I promise to come back when I feel I have suffered as much as you all have.

All my love, Lizzie

I sighed again. Looking back at Natasha. She was steaming her normal reserved manner was out the window.

"She wrote one just for me." I answered giving her the note I had found on my floor. "I thought I was going to wake up with her in my arms, but no such luck."

"She came into Clint's room last night. He's completely heal and Stark is on his way to recovery. I don't know if I can go down there and tell them this." She whispered her eyes betraying extreme sadness, like her heart was broken.

"So you forgave her?" I asked trying not to be mean.

"Of course I forgave her. Didn't I forgive Clint the moment he became sane?" Her eyes narrowed mad at my words.

"I was just asking," I smirked hands in the air.

"I half expected you to be in the green room," She snapped trying to push my easy buttons.

"He hasn't really had much say in the matter yet. I'm pissed, upset and about ready to break but hasn't that been our typical week? I need to make sure everyone is alright and what the plan is before I let off some steam." I answered back calmly hoping she could hear the threat underneath my words.

She nodded sternly her arms crossed in front of her chest. Turning on her heel she walked down the long hallway to the kitchen muttering something in Russian. I followed her finding the Captain and Darcy sitting by the island. Darcy's eyes were red like she had been crying, Steve has his arm around her waist rubbing her arm with his other hand.

"I'm sorry, Bruce." she frowned. "We just got her back, and she blames herself for everything."

I nodded not sure if my words would be safe out in the air. Steve frowned his brow in severe concentration. They both stood watching Natasha on her unsteady feet.

"How much sleep did you get last night?" Darcy demanded her eyes suddenly clear of tears. She had always been like this solving every problem at the same time.

"Enough," Natasha said sternly wanting to drop the matter. "I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Your no good to SHEILD if you're not rested." Darcy snapped back crossing her arms.

"Since when have you decided what's good for SHEILD?"

"Since I became a part of this team."

"What's your skills? Fashion? Art? Mov-"

"SERIOUSLY?" I asked angrily pounding my fist on the counter. Green rippled up my skin. I forced it back down looking between the two girls. "Can we just focus on one problem?"

"You alright, Bruce?" Steve asked one arm protectively holding on to Darcy.

"Fine," I lied storming towards the elevator which swished open the moment I pressed the button to reveal Fury, Clint, Thor, Jane and surprisingly Tony in a wheelchair pushed by Pepper. I was stopped in my tracks mouth hung open.

"We need to talk," Fury said pushing past me into the living room. Clint smirked while Tony winked while they followed Fury. I stopped Thor one hand on his arm.

"Who's watching your brother?" I asked meeting his eyes.

"He is in a sleep that rivals the Odin sleep, warrior. I trust the agents with him now, but I will return after we talk about the young maidens disappearance." Thor nodded a small smile on his tired face. Jane nodded thoroughly glad to be holding on to her man.

I followed them into the living room. Fury stood in the center messing with the projector system a map of New York state popped up in front of us. Tony sighed as if Fury's slowness with the technology was bugging him, which it probably was.

"Agent Olsen left NYC at exactly 0600 this morning. She dumped the Lamborghini about here," the map zoomed in to Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania. "She sold the car to a local pawn shop owner for eight thousand dollars. We have already had agents speak with him and ask if she had said where she was going. After that we have no new information, which means she doesn't have anything on her that we can track."

"She sold my 2012 Lamborghini Aventador for eight thousand dollars." Tony sighed shaking his head in sadness.

"Her cell phone, credit cards and laptop are still in her room." Natasha said from her spot on the coach.

"Which means she is only using cash, but what about the her IPod? Did you find that in her room?" Tony questioned pulling out his phone typing quickly on the screen.

"It wasn't in there," Natasha smiled.

"Never mind, Ms. Hellfire is one step ahead of us. She removed the tracking chip I put into all her electronics. I wonder how she knew." Tony mused stroking his goatee.

"So, in all reality we have no idea where she is going?" Barton asked stretching out his newly fixed arms.

"Correct," I sighed rubbing my hands through my hair.

"Would it be so bad if we let her be? For now?" Pepper asked quietly looking at me.

"Yes, we have highly unstable prisoner downstairs who might escape at any moment!" Fury snapped rolling his good eye.

"What do you mean he might escape?" I growled suddenly pacing to keep the other guy inside me.

"Banner-"

"If you tell me to remove myself I WILL SNAP!" I barked real green creeping up my arms. "If he is going to escape why don't I just kill him?"

"Doctor, you may be my friend in combat, but I cannot let you harm my brother." Thor said standing from his place on the coach the sky suddenly darkening outside.

"Let's see who win, Thunder Pants." I sneered my body shaking.

"Bruce," Tony voice made me turn to face the Man of Iron. He stood shakily from his wheelchair holding onto Pepper for support. "We won't let him escape, I will see to it personally that he is punished for what he has done to us."

I sighed trying to let my body unwind from the tight spring I had made it. Tony was right, we would be able to stop. I mean he might have been a demi-god but even Thor had been knocked out by small doses of the same sedatives. I let myself fall unto the coach feeling like a weight heavier than anything I could ever imagine was on my chest.

"I just feel like I'm losing her." I whispered.

"We will find her," Natasha said harshly. "I taught her almost everything that I know. I can track the tricks and I will bring her back myself."

I nodded trying to look thankful. Fury spoke again but I couldn't hear him through the buzzing in my ears.

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**(Lizzie POV) **

I stepped off the bus in Davenport, IA a little under a thousand miles between my friends and me. I had over sixteen three days of traveling to make myself disappear into the crowd and so far I had done a pretty good job. My once long blonde hair was ten inches shorter and the color of the night with deep purple highlights, my bag dug into my shoulder. It felt heavier now after I had bought all new clothes for my new look. A new haircut could make a girl do anything. The only reason I had time for shopping in my big escape was there wasn't a train that went from Philadelphia directly to Iowa. I had to risk being caught twice staying in a shitty hotel room. I kept my head down trying to avoid the 30 million security cameras that SHEILD had access too. I had to get to computer. I had to make new documents, I had to pretend like Elizabeth Olsen had never existed and I knew the exact person to help me. I dropped my bag in front of the line of dirty payphones that looked like ancient artifacts. I dialed the number that I had known for years, the one person who I had always trusted when everyone else had thought I was a freak. Three rings drilled a knot into my stomach.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answered. It sounded much deeper than I remembered it, but it had been a little over three years since I had heard it.

"You're a fucking moron." I said in my most serious voice.

"Your language is offensive." He responded quoting our favorite movie. We had seen it at least fifteen times in our towns little theater and then burned holes in each of our copies because we watched it so much. "Where have you been, girl?"

"You know full well where I've been." I smiled back into the phone not realizing until this moment how long I had missed my small town best friend.

"Yeah, I saw it all. You really turned out to be something, didn't you?" I could hear his gruff laughter echoing in his broad chest.

"I guess, but I have a favor to ask of you." I sighed closing my eyes.

"What is it?" he chuckled standing from wherever he had been sitting or sleeping.

"Can you come pick me up? I'm running again." I almost sobbed into the phone.

"Where?" I could hear him picking up keys and opening his door. "Liz, where?"

"Davenport Amtrak bus stop."

"There's a McDonalds two and a half blocks down, go wait there. I'll be there in forty five minutes or less."

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Can I reach out at this number again?"

"No, you should reverse the tracking polarity in the phone though." I shrugged looking at my watch, we had another forty seconds until the call could be traced.

"Already done, sweetheart. See you soon." he hung up with fifteen seconds to spare. I hiked my bag on my shoulder and made quick work down to the fast food chain. People stared at me as if I was homeless, like a I was running away. I kicked my bag further under my seat hoping to draw less attention from the onlookers.

Thirty six minutes passed and a tall red head walked into the restaurant making a bee line for me. I jumped up his face cringed slightly as if he didn't recognize me. I rolled my eyes lugging my bag over my shoulder accepting his arms that he held open. He was almost as tall as Thor, but brawnier than the Captain. His once gangly appearance had filled out tremendously from either playing football or growing up. It felt good to hug him again, the familiar smell of gas, smoke and blue ax filling my head with more memories than I cared t think about. He held my hand pulling me out of the smelly place and almost throwing me into his truck. We didn't speak for the first few minutes just the road and the dark inky sky in front of us.

"Ryan," I started looking at his focused hazel eyes, shaggy hair and freckled face.

"Liz," He smiled stealing a glance at me.

"Thank you for doing this."

"Like you wouldn't do it for me?" he chuckled the deep voice more shocking in person than over the phone.

"I know," I smiled back. "but you could get into real trouble with these guys, you have no idea-"

"They came to my dorm two days ago, I'm guessing they wanted to trail me but I sent them up to Floyd. Said it was the most likely place you would go first." he shrugged opening a warn pack of Reds from his jacket pockets lighting it up. I took one from the pack out of a habit that we both hid from our parents. "I'm sure they won't come back, I told them we haven't spoken in years."

"I'm sorry," I sighed letting the nicotine course through my head. "It's not fair that I ask this of you after all this time."

"It will always be alright, Liz. I...you've been my best friend since we were kids, you just don't ignore that." He shrugged again flicking the ash out the window.

"I promise to be out by the end of the week. I don't want to impose on you." I sighed sucking in more smoke.

"Shut up," he smiled shaking his head. "Close your eyes, you look like some vampire, emo girl who doesn't sleep to prove she's ironic. When was the last time you slept?"

"A while," I lied flicking the cigarette out the window closing it to the roaring wind.

"Go to asleep," he commanded not taking his eyes off the road. I nodded laying my head on his shoulder. He shrugged putting his arm around me, as I closed my eyes to the world.

**(Ryan POV)**

I ran my fingers through the short black hair that fell across my knee. She was dead to the world and my leg was half asleep, but I didn't care I had here back. Three years, eight months, twelve days and six hours of waiting for her, she fell back into my life. Her blue eyes still shone like the sun in my cloudy mind. I had always been the Debbie Downer as she liked to call me, but whenever we were together it made me better. I had been the only kid in the whole town that didn't just speak to her because she was a freak. I was her only friend. I was there the day she discovered her powers. We were playing in our sandbox that was in my backyard only a country mile away from her small white house. I had stolen a toy she loved to play with and she had gotten angry pushing me over without even touching me.

From that day forward I promised to keep her secret no matter what, but it was hard for a girl with that short of temper to keep her own secret. After she left school I still went over every day to play and called her once we reached that age. I took her to every school dance, forcing my friends to be nice to her. It was me who found her hanging from that huge oak.

She hadn't answered my typical 10:30 pm text asking her what her plans were for the next night. It was homecoming week and I couldn't wait for her to see me play. When she didn't answer three hours later I got concerned, by two thirty I was driving over there. I had never cried in front of her until that day and six days later she was gone. I promised myself that I was going to find her as soon as I graduated. Her parents wouldn't tell me where she went because she had suggested that I should move on with my life. That was the catch, I couldn't move on to my life. I applied to over fifty schools each offering a scholarship for my brains or my sports skills. I landed on the UOI because it was the closest to home with a good physics program. I also choose it just in case she ever came home again.

Though her she was sleeping soundly in my truck just like old times. The smell of her sweet perfume and shampoo filling up the small space. I had waited for this moment for a long time, holding out for the day when she would come back to me. I pulled up to the dorm, peacefully pulling her out with me. She snuggled deeper into my chest as I carried her inside the body bag she had brought with her strung over my shoulder. As I laid her down on my small bed I noticed a small chain sinking into her neckline. I pulled it out revealing a huge diamond ring. It hurt me more than I expected. I had known there was someone else, but this was much worse.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Guys,

Sorry for the long wait I just had finals week! Hopefully I passed! I really am excited to start this story and really get deep into what's been going on inside my head! I have been contemplating writing the next chapter though, I really want to wait for the Iron Man 3 movie so my story can reach up to that point and finish sometime after that timeline. So I have to do some digging, but I'm sure we won't have to worry too much about how fast this story will come out. A HUGE shout out to my reviewer's teamXtrek and Insanity's Breaking Point I love to red what people have to say about my writing and can't wait to continue with this story!

All my love,

Emma

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**(Lizzie POV)**

I woke up with a start, struggling to remember where I was and how I got there. My brain took in the smell of used clothes, Axe body spray, smoke and gasoline. Ryan, his words said and unsaid rolling around my head, where was he now? I half expected him to be silently guarding me, but fear gripped at my heart, what if he was ratting me out somewhere. I brushed the thought away knowing my best friend would never betray me. I had to think logically, not like some crazy loon on the run. I was a normal teenage girl whose best friend was in class, a crazy physics class more than likely. I turned over in the small extra-long twin, the green comforter wrapping tighter around my legs. My head crunched on something. I pulled the half sheet of notebook paper from under my head the slightly familiar neat scrawl staring back at me.

**Liz, **

**I have class till three today. Watch out for my roommates they are snoopy and will ask questions. Sorry. Be back as soon as I can.**

I smiled looking at the small alarm clock on the night stand. It read 1:45 pm. I had an hour and fifteen minutes to do what I pleased in his dorm. The room was small. Smaller than anything I had ever stayed in, including the shitty apartment that I rented before signing on with SHEILD. It was ten and a half feet by 9 feet. He had a bed, desk, chair, a small dresser, mini fridge, night stand, a tiny book shelve above the desk and a closet. The walls were covered in posters of bikini clad women, computer schematics,Kiss, Aerosmith, and surprisingly the Avengers. It was dramatic picture of Tony zooming down in full Iron Man gear, Natasha standing behind him aiming her gun at something, Clint standing behind her arrows in his bow, Steve behind him pointing his shield held high, Thor was standing behind Steve his hammer in the air lighting coursing through it, I was behind Thor fire, water, and earth rippling up my arms, and finally behind me was the Hulk, his huge arms raised above him as if he was going to smash something next to me. I ignored the poster as much as possible sitting up in the small bed. I could hear people outside the room moving around as if they were just getting up as well. I quickly jumped out of the bed grabbing my duffle in front of the dresser pulling out my two towels. I streaked out of the room scrambling to find the bathroom; it was across the small living room in the obvious suite he lived in. No one was out of their respective room, I jumped into a small shower the water was warm and the only shampoo was of the male design so I skipped it for that day. I rushed back into Ryan's room my body and hair wrapped in a towel.

"Dude, who is that," I heard grumbled from outside the door. I sighed I had been spotted by the other life forms.

"What are you talking about?" a second voice asked his large feet booming across the room.

"Some chick just ran across our living room. Did I mention that she was naked?" the first voice said a certain chuckle in his voice.

"Adam, dude, I know it's been like three weeks since you got any, but seriously you can't just start imagining naked girls running around our dorm. It's going to get uncomfortable for everyone." The second one laughed. I head a scuffle and a few choice swear words that would have made Steve blush.

I heard two pairs of large feet stomp their way to Ryan's door. I quickly threw a t-shirt over my half way clothed body and threw open the door before they could reach it. I was greeted by two huge mountains each towering above me. They had to be related; each had sandy blonde hair, sharp chin lines, almond shape eyes and barrel size chests. I smiled sweetly running a hand over my wet mop.

"Hey guys," I blushed. "Sorry to cause all that confusion. I'm Taylor by the way."

"Nice to meet you Taylor," the one on the left said a wide smile on his lips. "I'm Alex."

"I'm Adam," the one on the right said nudging Alex in the side. I could see the small difference between them. Adam had bright green eyes, while Alex had dark blue eyes. "Where did you come from?"

I laughed at the question. Ryan was right, they weren't afraid to ask questions.

"I came from New Hampshire," I lied quickly almost making a nearly fatal mistake. "Concord, I'm here studying theater."

"Nice," Alex smiled again giving his supposed twin a look. "We're from South Dakota. I'm studying Physical Education and the bozo doesn't have a major yet."

"Are you guy's twins?" I asked looking between them. The clock on the wall told me I still had a hour to make up lies for these people.

"Duh," Adam smirked rolling his eyes. "Not to be to forward or anything but how did Ryan manage to land a girl like you?"

"What he means is that Ryan doesn't really talk to girls from your department. He is more of a…"

"Nerd-girl avoiding-homework doing-won't even look at a girl twice-geek," Adam finished for Alex smirking at me.

"Ryan play's football through, right?" I asked slightly offended that these two didn't really respect my best friend.

"Oh yeah, he's the best full back around and we like having him on the team." Alex started again looking straight into my eyes.

"But, he's never been one for the girls. He always talks about his classes or computers or the superheroes, which are usually above the heads of any girl that wants to talk to him."

"Oh really," I smirked thinking about the level of girls who went to college. They were probably all either in the sports marketing department or education, they were right anything Ryan said was usually very difficult to understand especially when he was nervous.

"Not that we're trying to offend you." Adam smirked back. I was starting to like this kid; he was a less smart version of Tony. The cockiness was in full force, the brains were yet to be seen.

"No offense taken. I actually find nuclearphysics to be fascinating, especially when applied to the bedroom." I winked. "Any way boys I need to finish getting ready before the boy gets back."

"Holy-"I slammed the door before Adam could finish his sentence. I slid down the door silently laughing in the thought that I had just made my best friend a legend to his two roommates.

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I waited another hour and five minutes before Ryan got back to the dorm. You could hear the protest of the twins as he walked into the room. He ignored them pounding his way to the door. I had been ready for the day eons ago and had started searching the room. As he opened the door I was currently under his bed examining the hard drives and monitors that were stuffed under there. I couldn't imagine what kind of electric bill his room was running alone.

"I'm guessing that they saw you?" He questioned right away his face in a half smile.

"Yep," I shrugged moving from under the bed to the desk chair. He sat down on his bed rubbing his temples lightly as if he had a headache.

"What's the story? I have all your transfer papers ready along with a full file in any school system you choose."

"My name is Taylor, from Concord, New Hampshire. I would probably pick a school there. I want to get a degree in Theatre now or something of that sort. I want to be as far away from my other majors as possible that could be a possible search tactic."

"But, wouldn't they guess you wouldn't choose your majors? And how likely do you think that they will start searching through transfer students on every college campus?" Ryan grinned.

"Not every school in the nation just here in Iowa, they expect me to come here." I sighed leaning back in the chair. "I might have to go somewhere else."

"Not an option." Ryan said sternly typing away on his laptop, the printer hidden under the piles of computer parts and various other things on his desk suddenly coming to life spilling out papers and pictures. "I have this place on lockdown. You need to be a better hacker than me to get into your file. Or the fake file I created. You wont come up on normal searches, your buried deeper than most would suspect."

"Then how are the admissions people supposed to see my file?"

"If they have the proper IP address than they can view your files as much as they want. No passwords or firewalls, those are just for outside invaders."

"I guess you think of everything. When do I move in?" I smirked hoping to catch a place close to Ryan.

"The second semester started yesterday. We can go down to admissions and get you all settled. I made your birth certificate and social security. We need to go see my friend for your ID, otherwise from this moment on your Taylor Garner." Ryan's said his fingers still speeding across the keyboard.

"What is Allen my dad or something?" I laughed looking at the legal papers spilling out of the covered printer.

"You wish." He smirked shutting his laptop. "Let's go get you into real college."

"Ok," I smiled grabbing his hand.

/

**(Tony's POV)**

"What are you doing?" Pepper asked me her fingers making their way through my hair. I shrugged putting the tablet down on the nightstand, multiple search databases running in time with my heart beat.

"Searching for her," I huffed. I knew it was pointless to sit and watch the machine go through every profile; JARVIS would notify me the moment it happened.

"You don't like my idea?" she asked nuzzling herself under my arm onto my chest. I cringed slightly trying to hide my pain from the person I wanted to be closet too. The skin Lizzie had healed just days before was still tender, but at least I could walk now.

"No, I like your idea." I shrugged. "Bruce is a different story. He forgave her the moment she was back in his arms, everyone else forgave her the moment we got her back to normal; she just needs to forgive herself now. Bruce can't see that. All he can see is a girl trying to run away from her problems. She needs this time to be away from all the drama in our lives."

"How long do you think that could be?" Pepper questioned the sleepiness of her tone suggesting more than she would ever say.

I stopped dead in my tracks. I had never thought how long it could take for her to feel as if she had punished herself enough. My brain franticly started doing the calculations, the possibilities, everything that she would ever think off. Years, she was planning on being gone for years. I sucked in a deep breath causing Pepper to jump back from my arms. She hovered above me, her fingers lightly touching my chest.

"Did I hurt you?" she cried her eyes searching mine.

"No, I might know where to look for her now." I mumbled reaching for the tablet again closing my engines and starting up new ones.

"Where do you think she could be?"

"She's nineteen, looking for a new place to start over, isn't it obvious?" I scoffed.

"Tony," Pepper started her tone sending icicles down my spine. "I don't want you to look for her."

I looked at my girlfriend every instinct in my body telling me to give her some sarcastic remark, my famous crooked smile and continue searching for my best friend's girl, but somehow I knew that she was right. Pepper loved Lizzie on a different level than most of us did. She saw past every act of kindness, every smile or laugh and knew that sometime tough choices needed to be made to see what people really needed. Lizzie needed this time to figure out what was going on with herself before she could figure out what was going on here.

"Your right," I smiled slightly looking at the person I loved most in the world. "It just might be a little harder to explain to Bruce."

"I didn't even explain my reason to you." She cocked an eyebrow.

"You didn't have to." I kissed her forehead sliding off our bed.

"You could just wait to tell him in the morning." She smiled holding on to my hand.

I shrugged letting her go walking out the door, my pajamas swishing across the tiled floor. My cold feet padding down the hallway, I could distantly hear two people arguing in Russian. I made a mental note for JARVIS to translate it later. I walked past Thor's door hearing his booming laughter joined by Jane's smaller giggle, I then passed Steve's door which was slightly ajar revealing a cuddling couple whispered sweet nothings to each other. My stomach almost fell to the floor. Bruce wasn't going to be able to stay her after I told him. He couldn't be surrounded by these couples, he would be miserable. I was violating a serious Bro Code here. Bruce was asking me to help him and I was shutting him down faster than a nerdy girl at Victoria Secret molding search. He answered the door before I could rethink my choices.

"Tony," his surprised face turning into joy "Did you find her?"

"No," I smiled slightly regretting my manner at once. "I agree with Pepper."

"What do you mean you agree with Pepper?" he asked green like ink spilling into his eyes.

"I mean that I think we should let her be. We should let her come back to us on her own." I shrugged taking a slight step back snapping my fingers three times alerting JARVIS that I might be in trouble.

"I can't believe this. What if Pepper left without a trace, wouldn't you go crazy trying to find her?" he questioned calmly, but a green tinge was creeping up his arm.

"Yes, but I don't think she would ever feel need to leave." I blurted my words trying to find there way back as soon as I spoke them.

"So you're saying this is my entire fault?" he grunted.

"No," I exclaimed looking down the hall at Steve half his body in the hall the other half still in his room.

"IT'S MY FAULT!" he spat the green filling his entire eye. I could hear his shirt ripping, I instantly reminded myself to fix the material in his shirts as well. I mean the man had plenty of pants now, but he was running out of shirts faster than I had calculated.

"Bruce, she took the ring that's a good sign that she will come back some day." I explained trying to calm down the emerging beast.

"You should let me take it from here, Merchant of Death." Thor winked swinging his mighty hammer at the Hulk. He roared in defiance as Thor lunged at him. They tumbled around the room until a crash of glass caused me to run into the destroyed room. I watched as my friends fell stories below me. Both master assassins charged into the room, Clint jumping out the window as soon as he assessed the damage. Natasha stayed with me, surveying my condition before snapping orders at me.

"Don't even think about putting on the suit."

"Wouldn't dream of it sweetheart." I smiled looking at the fierce redhead.

"What did you do to set him off?" she questioned moving away from the new hole in our home.

"I told him that I wasn't going to help him find Lizzie. She needs to come back her on her own." I shrugged trying to figure how long it would take some contractors to fix the hole.

"We agree with you. The rest of us talked about it." She said fixing her eyes on something in the distance.

"I'm surprised you're in on it." I laughed.

"If I was her, I would want the same thing. When you love someone it makes you weak and we're not used to having that taken away from us without our consent. Loki took more this time and it's going to be awhile before she can accept it." Natasha responded the hard look in her eyes making me slightly sick.

"Who took more from you?" I asked not expecting much.

"The Soviet bastards who took my parents, the same people who created me into this monster, the same people that would kill him the moment they find out that he loves me." She whispered her hard eyes melting slightly.

"Natasha," I started but couldn't finish as her gun was against my throat.

"Breath a word of this to anyone and I will not hesitate next time." She hissed her face millimeters from mine. I nodded agreeing to anything in that moment. She let go the look back into her blue steel eyes. "Sorry."

"No worries," I scoffed secretly noting to get her back some day. "But if Clint really loves you I think you should return the favor."

"Love is for children." She responded harshly gripping her ear as someone spoke to her. "The Hulk is down on High Island. They'll have him back within the hour; no deaths or injuries reported and as of right now the media was not gotten wind of the incident."

"Good," I smiled walking out of the room letting the red head follow me. "Give it a chance."

"You think we're safe?" she threw at me the anger and fear clear in her eyes.

"For now," I nodded not knowing how wrong I was.


	3. Chapter 3

Dear my avid, wonderful, beautiful and patient readers,

Thank you so much for waiting for the next chapter of this saga. I am all done with class, but will be having a VERY busy summer. I see about six to seven more chapters here and maybe just maybe another installment in the saga. I don't know we will have to see! Big shout out to Willowtreebythewater, orderofthephoneix and my faithful ladymoonscar (don't worry doll twas but a joke, but you do inspire me to write faster)

All my love,

Emma

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I had been gone for a year; one whole year without seeing my friends. One year without speaking to the love of my life. One year dreaming of the day that I wouldn't be guilty of all the pain I had caused. Whenever I look back on that year I can't help but think how happy I was without them. How hallow that happiness became is part of this story, but for this moment I remember happiness with Ryan. We were sitting in our shared apartment, I was sprawled on the coach papers and books spread around me and Ryan was in the kitchen making something for dinner. I was stressed beyond all belief that I had left my ten page paper on the history of Norse Lore for the last minute, but I kind of liked it that way. I knew way more than I should about Norse Lore, hell I was a part of it and that was what I was writing the paper mostly about. I knew that I was stepping pretty close to the line of almost blowing my cover but I wasn't going to fail a paper for my cover. Or maybe I wanted to be found, in that moment I wasn't at all sure.

"Are you going to be any fun tonight?" Ryan asked from the kitchen. He was making my favorite breakfast for dinner and I could already smell the pancakes.

"Yes," I sighed typing away ferociously on his laptop. Mine was currently going under its daily inspection of virus scan and spyware hacker. Ryan was still very paranoid that they knew where I was.

"It's the Bash in the Grass tonight," he reminded me for the fifth time in the last three minutes. Scraping of plates and glasses made their way to me ears as he padded towards me.

"Yep," I snapped back finishing the last sentence. "I know. We can still go it isn't going to start for another three hours and sweetheart I will be ready to go by then."

"If you say so." He sighed putting my meal on my lap. I stood fake pissed at his words. I stormed into our shared room a smile playing coyly on my lips; I ate at my food absentmindedly while trying to pick out what I was going to wear that evening. I choose black skinny jeans, a white blouse with a blazer along with matching shoes. He came in about an hour into my getting ready process. I was in my towel my hair still air drying.

"Please tell me you're just wearing that." He smirked running one hand across my shoulders. I shrugged him off laughing.

"You wish," I smirked letting him steal a kiss from me. He changed his jeans along with his top and messed his already messy hair claiming that he was ready to go. I smirked again ignoring the comment. I started putting on my makeup his soft humming still piercing through the thick walls. It was true that I have never really spent one moment alone since that first day, but somehow it really didn't annoy me that much. It was nice to know that someone cared enough to risk everything for me, but I never really had a chance to get over all that had happened. He didn't want to hear a word about the other guy or any of the team members. Ryan had shredded the poster that once hung proudly in his dorm and burned the pieces the first chance he got.

It still hurt him to see the ring that once meant something to Bruce and I hang around my neck, and it still hurt me as well. I felt a lot of pain when it came to Bruce as well. I wondered if anything was ever going to be the same between us or anyone for that matter. It hurt me to know that I still wanted to be back there with him. I had hurt the only people who truly knew the real me and didn't judge me for the powers that were forced upon me. Ryan was there for me, but with the Avengers it had never felt the pressure. With Ryan everything was a ticking clock, two more years and we can get married. Three more years and I will have the perfect job. We can move away and never have to deal with their bullshit again. That was never what I wanted with him. I wanted out, but my penance was far from over. I had only suffered one sixteenth of the pain that I had caused the people who were my family. Was it ever possible for me to go back? Bruce would always taunt me in my dreams, moving on with Betty or something like that. It hurt more then I would ever admit to anyone. I had been the one to leave, twice. Would my sins ever be forgiven?

I finished getting ready letting my thoughts slowly disappeared. Ryan was pretending to be sleeping on the coach and I flicked his nose as I walked by picking up a beer. I sipped on it looking out the window above the sink. I had to do a double take as a mess of curly red hair ducked around the corner of the next building. I dropped the beer and sprinted towards the door. Ryan yelled after me, but I could hear him. By the time I got outside there was no trace of the Widow I swore had seen. Ryan pounded down behind me.

"What the hell, Liz?" he huffed gripping at me. I pulled away looking toward where I had seen her last. "Liz, can you please just talk to me?"

"I thought that I saw someone." I whispered turning back inside our building he followed hot on my heels.

"Who do you think it was?" he huffed locking the apartment door behind us. I went into the kitchen cleaning up the mess I had made, my hands trembling. Ryan's heavy footsteps came into the kitchen bending down to my level gripping my hands in his. "Talk to me, babe."

"I thought that I saw her, The Widow." I gulped for air falling into his waiting arms, the soggy paper towels leaking on both of us. "I thought that all we had worked for, all that we had was over. I don't want them to find me."

Ryan held tighter pushing my forehead into his collar bone. He stroked my hair unsure of what to say. "We could stay in tonight. Start packing and move on. Would that make you feel safer?"

The thought of running got my blood pumping. We would be uprooted from one of the best colleges in the national. We would have to come up with new identities, and Ryan could say goodbye to any new scholarships. We would go further under the radar then ever before. I shuddered at the thought.

"No, if we leave now, you lose everything you have worked so hard for."

"So?" he asked pulling me away from him so he could look me in the eyes. "As long as I have you nothing else could matter much."

"That's a nice gesture," I smiled puling further away and standing up. He followed a frown on his face. "But I don't think it's going to make a difference in my choice. I want to stay here. I must have imagined that anyone was there. Logically there is no way in hell they know that I'm here. We've covered our tracks to well."

"Your right," He smiled one hand firmly on my waist. He stole a kiss before cleaning up the rest of my mess. "Pack up the beer and lets head over to the party."

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The Bash on the Grass was an annual party for the football players and their friends. It happened in the middle of an Iowa cornfield about fifteen miles outside of the city. It was best for everyone to be prepared to either sleep were they fell in the field or make it the mile and a half to the barn owned by one of the players. I was very unsure if the barn still belonged to one of the players among us, but it probably belonged to alumni who wanted the tradition to keep going. From what the twins had always said Bash on the Grass was as old as the football team, though I highly doubted their information. I was mostly the girl who hung out with the guys and my boyfriend, but at this party I was considered one of the girls. The cheerleaders along with the other girlfriends forced me into dancing and shots, so by the time midnight rolled around I was very drunk.

I swayed over to where Ryan was sitting a beer in his hand and a grin on his face. He was talking with a large blonde I had never seen before. A chill rolled up my spine this boy had a striking resemblance to a certain Norse God.

"Taylor," Ryan slurred using my fake name instead of my real name. He was known to slip up but we covered that track claiming my middle name was Elizabeth, I answered to both. "This is our new quarterback, Tom."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled hoping that I was hold my composure better then Ryan. The giant held out his hand a smile on his baby face. That's when I knew that he couldn't be the same God that I had once considered a friend. He was slighter, with no facial hair to speak of. I shrugged off my worries, but that was when I glanced a flash of red go through the row of corn directly behind the blonde giant. I immediately stood walking away from the protests from Ryan. I bolted into the cornfield kicking off my shoes in the process. I dug my feet into the ground tapping into the powers I had ignored for almost a full year. Someone was defiantly running away from the very spot where I stood. I bolted after the vibrations running faster than I had this morning.

This person was fast, making difficult turns and twists. I sprinted after the faint and constant patter of quick feet. The corn whipped around me cutting into my arms and face. I was never going to be able to wear this outfit ever again. The feet stopped about fifty feet in front of me. I stumbled trying to stop, I could hear the heavy breathing what seemed inches from me in the black night. I dug my feet deeper into the dirt trying to predict their next move.

"Glad I have your attention," I jumped at the familiar smooth voice. It was Barton, my skin was crawling. I turned around pulling my feet from the dirt; I heard the rustle of what I now knew was Natasha. "You need to come with us."

"Was it her earlier?" I sighed wrapping my tangled hair into a pony tail.

"Of course it was, Liz." Nat answered herself patting my back softly. I shivered at the touch. I wondered how bad they wanted to punish me for leaving. I had so many questions running though my head at the moment that I really wasn't sure what to do for my next move. I could try to run, but I was out of shape and out of practice. They would catch me within the hour. The wind picked up at the moment as if assuring me that I was correct in my assumption.

"Do I get to say goodbye? Did you get my stuff?" I whimpered showing weakness for the first time in a year.

"No, we don't think that would be wise." Clint answered ignoring the other part of the question looking towards his redhead companion.

"SHEILD cleaned it out for you, leaving a note in your hand writing. We don't want him to follow." She shrugged checking the perimeter for the fifth time in the last minute. "We should really be going; we can explain the rest in the car."

I nodded falling in step behind the Widow while the Hawk followed behind me. He reached into my back pocket pulling out the cheap disposable phone I had used for a little over a week and tossing it somewhere into the darkness. We walked for another seven minutes before jumping over a fence unto a gravel road. A sleek sliver Porsche 911 Turbo, assuming it wasn't stolen it probably belonged to Tony. My heart gave a sudden lurch at his name. Not four months ago I had mourned his loss, only to find out the little shit had been alive. I felt bad that I didn't come to help or rescue him, but neither did any of the other Avengers.

I slid into the back curling up around myself, wanting nothing more to avoid the next fifteen to twenty hours as much as possible. I wondered how that was even possible. Could I sleep for fifteen hours without letting them bother me, more than likely not. Natasha slipped into the driver seat while Clint stood outside apparently on the phone.

"How is he doing?" I murmured hoping that this was going to be are only interaction until we got back to the tower. She met her steel green eyes with mine.

"Tony is recovering the reactor is out of his chest, Steve and Darcy are thinking about the next step, Thor left with Loki in tow about three months after you bailed; we haven't heard from him since, Barton hasn't stopped looking for you since the day you left and I guess that about covers it." She glared letting the ice slip into her tone.

"I was asking about Bruce." I snapped back holding her glace steady.

"He bailed not three weeks after you left. Tony didn't think we should be looking for you, so Bruce lost it and left; last we heard he was somewhere in Antarctica." I froze dropping my eyes from the mirror. Antarctica is where he last tried to end it all, which was not the place I wanted to drive him to. "Were not even sure he knows about what's been going on."

Clint chose that moment to slip into the car. He gave Natasha a somewhat hard glance. She nodded throwing that car into gear and speeding down the lonely road. I looked behind me only to be greeted with the heart breaking scene of three to six giant football players barreling out of the corn field. Only one continued to chase after the car long after the sleek sliver car was out of sight. I cried well after we were out of the state.

**(Bruce POV) **

"Hey Doc, it's the Hawk. We are going to back to the tower now. I know you don't really want to be found right now, but I just want you to know that if you don't come back we will find you." The phone clicked shut while Bruce ran a nervous hand over his face. He quickly threw the disposable into the nearby river. He had been in Bali for a total of three days. He had been traveling for the last few weeks, leaving the depressing cold that he had exiled himself to for the last eleven months. He wondered how Barton kept getting his number. He guessed Tony had something to do with it. The name burned down his spine. Anger, sadness and guilt pushed through his body. The other guy remained questioning under his skin, wondering how to react to what Bruce was feeling at the moment.

As soon as he left the ice like prison he created for himself he checked on each of the Avengers except for her. He still had no idea where she would have gone and some nights that ate him up on the inside. The guilt was almost as bad as the bone crushing loneliness that seemed to follow him everywhere. Tony had needed his help and for about a week he had been considered dead. Why hadn't anyone else come to his rescue? Had he suggested it? Where did the Avengers spread out? Clearly Barton was on his way back, but what happened to the rest of his one time friends. He wondered if the Widow was still with Barton looking for the missing link in their shitty little family.

The sun was high in the bright blue sky people were bustling about him in there third world marketplace. He needed to keep moving maybe he could make his way back to the cold prison, without causing SHEILD to come after him. He dug into his pocket at the picture he had kept all this time only in his pocket he didn't need to look at it to know that it was. The picture she had given him a whole year ago frayed and folded, but still depicting a time when he was truly happy. It burned liked the heat of the fire he once let consume him.


End file.
